Hotel workers deny raping girl they met in club

A HOTEL chef accused of raping a young mother he picked up at a Bradford nightclub took her photo without permission while they were having sex, a jury heard.

Daniel Mayo said the 20-year-old woman seemed drunk earlier that night but she "came on to him" after being sick on the bed.

She kept saying she loved him and was perfectly willing to have sex, he claimed.

Mayo, 32, of Linton Road, Eastmoor, Wakefield, and Simon Ellis, 30, of North Road, Wibsey, Bradford, deny raping the woman in turn in a flat in Buttershaw.

Mayo, who was working as a chef and barman at Bradford's Cedar Court Hotel, and Ellis, who was also employed at the hotel, met their alleged victim in The Village nightclub, Sackville Street, Bradford, in the early hours of December 16, 2012.

They are accused of taking advantage of the woman, who cannot be named, after she had downed wine, vodka and alcopops and sniffed poppers.

Ellis told the jury yesterday that Mayo and the woman went straight into the bedroom when he took them back to the flat after 6am.

The woman was heavily under the influence of drink and holding on to Mayo.

He fell asleep in the living room until Mayo came in fully dressed.

Ellis said he got into his own bed with the girl because he was cold and tired.

"She came on to me and I went with it," he told the jury.

"It was just a one night stand."

Cross-examined by Michael Smith, for the Crown, Ellis denied taking advantage of "a slip of a girl" when she was very drunk.

Mayo said he and the woman began chatting at the club. He bought her two drinks and they danced together.

He was tipsy but she appeared to be all right.

She asked him to buy her a kebab and he helped her into the back of Ellis's van after she said her legs were like jelly.

Mayo said she was "a bit worse for wear" and saying things that did not make sense.

He put her in Ellis's bed and she asked him not to leave her.

He was comforting her when she initiated the sexual activity.

"I said 'Are you sure?' but she said it was fine," he told the court.

Mayo agreed that he took a photo of the woman on his phone while they were having sex without her knowledge or permission.

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